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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28501527">The Gift of Shipping</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/svnsetsphantoms/pseuds/svnsetsphantoms'>svnsetsphantoms</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Jukebox [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Author Is Sleep Deprived, But usually fails miserably, But with slight angst, Deep down I know he's trying his best to understand the modern world, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Honestly I'm such a simp, I don't know see for yourself, I kind of wrote this instead of sleeping, I refuse to believe their fans don't write fanfiction about them, I wouldn't be myself if I didn't add angst there, Juke oozes chemistry and everybody can see that, Jukebox, Julie Molina is a simp, Julie reading juke fanfiction instead of sleeping, Luke Patterson is a simp, Luke doesn't understand what 'boundaries' mean, Luke is a himbo, Netflix where is season two of JaTP, Oblivious Julie Molina, Oblivious Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Or is it just me who does that, Romance, Seriously that boy has some issues, The Author Regrets Nothing, The author is dehydrated, There isn't much plot it's just me simping for juke, Try to enjoy this trash, juke, new headcanon, so please excuse any mistakes, this is just pure fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:01:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,239</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28501527</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/svnsetsphantoms/pseuds/svnsetsphantoms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>'Why do people keep calling us farm animals?'<br/>OR<br/>Luke finds a juke fanfiction and Julie is forced to introduce him to the shipping culture.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Julie Molina/Luke Patterson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Jukebox [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087676</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>95</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Gift of Shipping</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After a long and exhausting day at school, Julie wanted nothing more than to lie down on her bed and binge watch her favorite Netflix series. The band rehearsal didn’t start until seven in the evening, which left her a few hours to relax. She quickly opened her laptop and entered her password. Ever since the boys appeared in her life, she had to change it weekly as her bandmates had a habit of snooping around the device. While her laptop didn’t hide anything illegal, there were a few files Julie rather the boys hadn’t found – like the draft of ‘Perfect Harmony’, the song she had been working on for weeks.</p><p>Turning on the laptop, Julie expected to see her home screen. Instead, she saw that her browser was open. Feeling a bit anxious, she clicked on its icon and found the band’s ‘Edge of Great’ video open. Julie smiled to herself, remembering the amazing concert and all the moments she shared with Luke. While she couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment she fell in love with him, that gig was a safe bet.</p><p>Julie sighed in frustration. Her ever-so-growing feelings for Luke didn’t change the fact that he had been using her laptop without permission again – he was the only one of her boys who used youtube. She guessed she sucked at coming up with new passwords because Luke managed to guess them every time. Either that, or he knew her well. Really, really well.</p><p>Sitting up, Julie looked at the video again. Against her better judgment, she decided to scroll down to the comments section. She wasn’t surprised when she noticed people talking about her and Luke. A few days after their successful Orpheum performance she felt the sudden urge to look up ‘Julie and the Phantoms’ on her favorite fanfiction website. At first, the knowledge that her fans ship her and Luke was a bit overwhelming, but as the time passed, she was more than grateful for all the juke (as their shippers called them) fanfiction out there.</p><p>If she couldn’t have had Luke in real life, then at least she could have had him in their fans' fantasies.</p><p>Ever since the boys became corporeal, Flynn had been encouraging Julie to use her ‘interesting little relationship’ with Luke to get more fans. And as much as Julie admired how passionate her best friend was about advertising the band, she knew that using the connection she had with Luke for marketing purposes felt wrong. She wanted it to stay only between the two of them – even though everybody around them noticed the amount of romantic tension in the air whenever she and Luke were around each other.</p><p>Julie groaned. She needed to tell Luke off once and for all or he would never learn how important boundaries are.</p><hr/><p>As soon as she finished her homework, Julie made her way over to the garage. When she went inside, she was glad to find there the person she was hoping to talk to.</p><p>‘Luke, have you been using my laptop without my permission again?’ Julie asked, praying that the answer would be negative.</p><p>‘Um…yeah’ Luke visibly hesitated before answering.</p><p>‘You know you can’t do that! How many times do I have to remind you about boundaries?’ Julie raised her voice as anxiety overwhelmed her.</p><p>What if he somehow had read her conversations with Flynn? Or worse, what if he had found ‘Perfect Harmony’? It would have been bad enough if he figured out who Julie wrote the song about, and even worse if he didn’t like it.</p><p>At this point, Julie was sure rejection from Luke would mean spending eternity wandering the streets of Los Angeles in her ghost form.</p><p>‘I’m sorry, I promise I won’t do this again’ Luke said, flashing Julie a million-dollar grin that made her heart melt.</p><p>Julie sometimes wondered if he was doing that on purpose, if he knew what kind of effect he had on her, and chose to regularly abuse that power. </p><p>‘For the last time, you should not use my laptop without my permission. If you need something from the internet, just tell me’ Julie said, trying to sound as soft as possible.</p><p>She mentally cursed herself - so much for telling Luke off.</p><p>That boy was going to be the death of her (no pun intended).</p><p>'I'm sorry, I promise it won't happen again' Luke said, looking at Julie with heart eyes and she knew she couldn't stay mat at him any longer.</p><p>‘Okay, in that case, I’m gonna go upstairs. Math homework’ Julie said, flashing Luke an awkward smile.</p><p>‘Wait, I wanted to ask you something’ Luke stammered, his green eyes scanning her face and Julie looked at him, raising her eyebrows in anticipation.</p><p>Luke took a deep breath before continuing.</p><p>‘Why do people keep calling us farm animals?’</p><p>If Julie was anxious before, now she was panicking. She knew what Luke was asking about, he must have seen the comments about ‘juke’ under the band’s youtube videos.</p><p>‘I’m not sure what you mean’ Julie answered after a moment, trying to sound as confused as possible.</p><p>‘Well, I was watching our ‘Edge of Great’ video, you know, just trying to figure out what parts we can improve,’ Luke answered too quickly for Julie to believe him, but she chose not to press the matter further  ‘And then I scrolled down and most of the comments were saying stuff like ‘ship’ or ‘juke’. What does ‘juke’ even mean?’</p><p>Julie could see why he got frustrated. The band and its success meant everything to Luke and she knew that. It was only natural that any hate directed at them would hurt him deeply.</p><p>The only thing was Julie wasn’t ready to tell Luke that the confusing comments weren’t hateful at all.</p><p>‘I…I don’t know,’ Julie answered, biting her lip, but seeing how a wave of disappointment flooded over Luke’s face, she quickly added ‘But I’ll figure it out.’</p><p>Gosh, how she prayed he didn’t see through her lies.</p><hr/><p>After the band rehearsal was over, Julie said her goodbyes to the boys and quickly made her way to her bedroom. She locked the door, not wanting to be disturbed by her dad or Carlos. After a moment, she decided to lock her window as well – she had already had her fill with annoying ghosts for the day. She sat at her desk and opened her laptop. She quickly opened her favorite juke fanfiction. In this story, both she and Luke were ghosts, who were spending an eternity traveling the world and making music together – in all possible kinds of ways. While it may have sounded a bit cheesy, the butterflies she felt in her stomach every time fictional Luke and Julie kissed had become one of her favorite feelings. It couldn’t compare to the way she felt every time she and real Luke were having a moment, but it was something.</p><p>Despite the excitement Julie felt while reading the fanfiction, Julie soon felt herself growing sleepy, so she closed the laptop’s lid, not bothering to close the fanfiction, and drifted off to sleep.</p><hr/><p>When Julie stepped into the garage the next morning, the first thing she saw was Luke, who was nervously bouncing on his toes, clearly waiting for her to finally show up.</p><p>‘I have to tell you something, but please don’t freak out’ Luke bit his lip and nervously scratched the back of his neck.</p><p>‘What did you do now?’ Julie asked, annoyed.</p><p>‘Well, I may or may not have used your laptop without permission again’</p><p>‘Seriously? How many times do I have to remind you about ‘boundaries’?’</p><p>‘Yes, I know, and I swear I didn’t mean to snoop around, but I saw that you had been reading a story and I couldn’t help myself’.</p><p>At that, Julie took a deep breath. She started to feel a hard lump beginning to form in her throat.</p><p>Luke had read the fanfiction she had read the day before. The fanfiction about <em>him and her</em>.</p><p>‘Was it a love story about us? Me and you?’</p><p>‘Well…’ Julie began, trying to think of a way to avoid answering Luke directly. However, as she saw his serious, almost concerned expression, she knew it wasn’t the time to play any games. ‘Yes, it was’.</p><p>‘Did you write it?’ Luke asked, shooting Julie a look she couldn’t quite decipher.</p><p>‘Oh no, no, no, no’ she answered, crossing her arms on her chest defensively ‘That was written by one of our shippers’.</p><p>‘Shippers? Like what, people who take care of sheep?’ Luke asked with a confused expression and it took all of Julie’s self-control not to burst out laughing.</p><p>‘No. Shippers are people who ship.’</p><p>‘You’re not making any sense.’ Luke said, visibly growing more annoyed and desperate by the second.</p><p>‘Well, the world ‘ship’ comes from the world ‘relationship. When you want two people like fictional characters or celebrities to be together, you ship them. And when you ship them, you’re a shipper’ Julie explained slowly, hoping her words made sense.</p><p>‘So our fans…ship us?’ Luke asked, slightly furrowing his nose.</p><p>Julie swallowed loudly as her palms began to sweat nervously, though she didn’t even know why.</p><p>‘It would seem so’ she answered calmly, hoping her voice didn’t show how nervous she was feeling all of a sudden.</p><p>‘Why would they do that?’</p><p>‘No idea’ she answered and shot Luke a fake smile, although his obliviousness hurt her a bit.</p><p>‘Why were you reading that story?’</p><p>‘Oh, that. Just…curiosity, you know? No hidden meaning here.’ Julie smiled so artificially she was sure Luke didn’t buy it. She hated every second of this interrogation and she was praying Luke would just drop the subject.</p><p>'So, you knew what the comments meant' Luke said quietly, his words more of a statement than a question.</p><p>'I did' Julie whispered, instantly feeling guilty for lying to him.</p><p>Weirdly, Luke chose not to press the matter. Instead, he just started flipping through his songbook, desperately avoiding Julie’s gaze.</p><p>‘I think I’m gonna work on the songs now if you don’t mind.’ Luke said and Julie noticed his jaw was clenched unnaturally.</p><p>‘Do you want some help with that?’ Julie offered, hoping a songwriting session would resolve some of the awkward tension between them.</p><p>‘No, I’ll be fine. You can go’ Luke said harshly, turning his back at Julie and she couldn’t help but feel a little bit hurt.</p><hr/><p>That evening’s band practice turned out to be a failure. Not only Julie and Luke were lacking their usual on-stage chemistry, but the brown-haired boy seemed to be fixated on avoiding Julie at all costs. Julie knew that Alex and Reggie knew something was up, and she couldn’t have been more grateful when they both stood up and quickly made their way out of the garage. She made a mental note of thanking them later for their thoughtfulness.</p><p>After the boys left, Luke sat on his couch and started playing some notes on his guitar, still not acknowledging Julie’s existence.</p><p>‘What’s your deal today?’ Julie asked with annoyance, crossing her arms on her chest.</p><p>‘I don’t know what you mean’ Luke answered coldly, still not bothering to look at her.</p><p>‘You’ve been avoiding me ever since our last conversation, you’re acting rudely and you’re obviously mad at me, so stop acting like an immature brat and tell me what’s going on!’ Julie half-yelled, half-whispered, feeling her eyes tear up.</p><p>Luke looked at her surprised, obviously not expecting her to snap.</p><p>‘I guess it’s just weird, you know? Knowing that our fans have this fantasy of us together, and being aware that that’s all we’ll ever be – a fantasy’.</p><p>Now it was Julie’s turn to look surprised. Judging by the way Luke acted, she started to think he might actually…reciprocate her feelings.</p><p>‘I don’t see it that way, Luke’ she began, now sounding much calmer ‘Sure, you being a ghost complicates the whole concept of us dating, but it doesn’t make it impossible.’</p><p>Luke met Julie’s gaze and she found herself unable to look away. She took a few steps towards him. There were only inches separating them now, but Julie didn’t mind the proximity.</p><p>‘It’s just…that interesting little relationship we have doesn’t have to limit itself to fanfiction and our gigs’ Julie whispered, hoping Luke would get what she was trying to say.</p><p>That she was willing to try. That despite the inevitable struggles that dating Luke would bring, she wanted to try. For him. For <em>them</em>.</p><p>Luke was looking deep into her chocolate eyes, visibly unsure what to say.</p><p>‘Jules…’ he began after a long while and Julie was sure she had never seen him as nervous before. He grabbed her hand and looked in her eyes again. ‘Can I kiss you?’</p><p>Julie didn’t bother answering. Instead, she raised her head to meet his soft and loving gaze. She shot him a gleaming smile and gently pressed her lips to his.</p><p>She felt as if a thousand fireworks erupted inside her body, but she didn’t mind. The feeling of Luke’s lips on her, of him kissing her gently and passionately at the same time was better than anything described in any fanfiction that she had read.</p><p>As they stood, their lips never leaving each other, Julie couldn’t help but think to herself:</p><p>‘Thank God for the gift of shipping.’</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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